There is something to what you say, but no, it was not a complete hedonistic reaction to we're all going to die anyway so let's party on.
It was also, give peace a chance and we won't all have to die.
A similar, though much more extreme, thing happened to the soldiers in World War 1. The war was so bloody and brutal, that by the end entire armies, brave men, simply refused to fire and kill another person. They just had seen too much bloodshed to participate in it.
Unsurprisingly, given the above backdrop, post world war 1 a lot of social change and democratic movements, from women's rights to loosening the class barriers took root because soldiers and officers who returned were not in the mood to tolerate strife and suffering at home. |
